John Lomas

Mansfield Town boss Adam Murray said Saturday’s 2-1 win against Stevenage seemed to have given his squad an unexpectedly large boost.

After four games without a win, three of them at home, the pressure was building and Murray said he had been surprised just how much relief the Stevenage win had produced.

“Realistically that result shouldn’t have had as big an effect as it has had,” he said.

“We had only lost one in five, though only one win too. We haven’t lost a lot of matches and we have been playing okay, we’ve not been bad.

“So a win shouldn’t really have had the effect it’s had but, because of the environment we are in - it can be tense at times, the win was massive for the boys.

“It was a big three points for the lads and will give them confidence. Take away the Accrington game, our performances have been decent.

“Even though they have been draws, they’ve been against good teams, though we felt we let ourselves down in the York game which affected the whole situation probably more than it should have.”

Murray added: “We should have won by more on Saturday as we created enough opportunities in the game to have scored four.

“Overall I was really pleased with the result. We are one point off the play-offs again and it’s put us in a really good place.

“For the first half-hour we looked very anxious, very tense, and we didn’t have enough flow in our play. The game was very horizontal. We are better when we make the game lateral.

“After that, when we calmed down, we got our rhythm and I think there was only one team in it second half. That comes from then confidence and belief that, when we do what we do and we play how we play, we are a good team.

“We showed that second half. It was booster - they probably needed to know they are a good team.”